101ĈčĆĕęĊė 3
Trade, the Sea Prohibition and
the “Folangji”, 1513‒ 50
Introduction
Soon after their conquest of Malacca in 1511, the Portuguese set their
sights on China as the next move toward their goal of expanding their
trade in the region. They soon came to be known to the Chinese as the
Folangji,^1 a term that might have been borrowed from Muslim traders. In
1513, the Portuguese βirst appeared on the China coast and in the years
1549‒50 the Zoumaxi Incident brought to an end the era of roaming
adventure, leading a few years later to the establishment of a permanent
base in Macao. The Portuguese were received by the Chinese with mixed
feelings of hatred and amicability. The images of the Portuguese held
by the Chinese varied according to different circumstances and time
periods.^2 Broadly speaking, men who had a stake in maritime affairs
often tended to hold views different to those who had no connection
with littoral society and economy and were concerned with Confucian
ideals and order.^3 Modern Chinese scholarship on Sino-Portuguese
relations sometimes provides divergent interpretations even when
identical sources have been used. For example, the oft-cited commentary
published 60 years ago by Chang Wei-hua in the chapter on the Folangji
in the Ming shi (Standard dynastic history of the Ming) presents a
somewhat detached view. On the other hand, Dai Yixuan’s study based
- The Feringhi or Franks. See C.R. Boxer, South China in the Sixteenth Century
(London: The Hakluyt Society, 1953), p. xix. - On images, see K.C. Fok, “Early Ming Images of the Portuguese”, in Portuguese
Asia: Aspect of History and Economic History (Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries), ed. Roderich Ptak (Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GMBH,
1987), pp. 143‒55. - See ibid., p. 147, for the discussion of a similar idea.